Senior Backend Engineer

About Us

TULU is revolutionizing the way people live by giving them smarter, more sustainable access to the products they need, right where they live. Our IoT-powered, in-building smart units provide on-demand access to everything from vacuums and projectors to e-scooters, VR headsets, and everyday essentials—while generating data-driven insights that personalize experiences and make consumption more efficient.

Backed by $40M+ in funding, we are a post-Series A global company operating in 55+ cities across North America and Europe. We partner with the world’s largest landlords and brands, serving 200,000+ households and growing more than 35% quarter over quarter.

Join us in building the world’s leading product access and usage platform—and shape the future of how people live.

About the Role

We’re looking for a world-class backend engineer who loves complex systems, clean architecture, and real impact. You’ll be the senior technical pillar in a small, agile team working alongside our current developers (2 juniors and 1 senior) and driving backend excellence across the company.

Beyond writing great code, you’ll also guide others, improve our development culture, and help us use AI and modern development tools to move faster and smarter. You’ll collaborate closely with the Product team to turn ideas into real-world solutions, while keeping reliability and performance at the center of everything you build.

This role fits someone who enjoys being hands-on, solving hard problems, and leading by example.

Responsibilities:

• Take ownership of the backend architecture and integrations across TULU’s platform, from the cloud to IoT devices
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend systems and APIs using Node.js (TypeScript preferred)
• Collaborate daily with frontend, mobile (Flutter), hardware, and QA engineers as part of one R&D team
• Guide and mentor junior developers, helping them grow their technical and professional skills
• Work closely with the VP R&D to shape technical strategy and make architectural decisions
• Introduce and use AI and automation tools to improve code quality, development speed, and system intelligence
• Continuously improve our tooling, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring practices to keep quality and reliability high

About You:

We’re looking for a senior backend developer who wants more than just writing code. Someone who enjoys solving complex challenges, mentoring others, and driving innovation. Someone who can think system-wide and is excited about the potential of AI and automation in modern development. Someone creative in mind and a true hustler in soul, with a strong sense of ownership and determination to get things done. 

You also have:

• 6–10 years of backend-focused engineering experience, with a proven track record of building and scaling complex systems.
• Success across at least 2 fast-paced startup environments, demonstrating adaptability and impact.
• Extensive experience with Node.js, including TypeORM, RESTful API development, and scalable system architecture.
• Proven experience building and maintaining distributed, cloud-based systems
• Strong understanding of how backend systems support mobile applications and the mobile app lifecycle
• Good understanding of frontend principles (React, Flutter, or similar frameworks)
• Practical familiarity with AI tools and APIs – using LLMs or AI services to enhance workflows, build smarter features, or automate processes
• Solid understanding of CI/CD, testing, and performance optimization
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work closely with cross-functional teammates